Cell Biology

Transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) are naturally occurring proteins secreted by the plant pathogen, Xanthomonas, and fused to the Fok1 endonuclease to generate TALE nucleases (TALENs). TALEN pairs bind to specific DNA sequences initiating Fok1 dimerization and double-stand cleavage of DNA within the TALEN target site. This cleavage event triggers cellular repair mechanisms that result in insertions and/or deletions (indels), which enable gene knockout. The high specificity and efficiency of TALENs makes them important tools for genome editing. Here, we describe a method for the generation of single-cell clones with targeted gene knockout by TALEN using co-transfection and FACS with a fluorescent reporter. This protocol was designed to knockout cell death-inducing DFFA-like effector b, CIDEB, in Huh7.5 cells; however, this protocol can be applied to a wide range of cell types and genes of interest.